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Heads-Up: Evelyn Ng
Jul 09 2008 10:39 PM EST
Evelyn Ng ended Day 1 of the World Series of Poker Main Event among the chip leaders with 110,225. WorldSeriesofPoker.com caught up with Ng as she entered Day 2b looking for the first Main Event cash of her career.
WSOP.com: Evelyn, during Day 1 of the Main Event there was a guy dressed as a Greek servant, fanning you and feeding you grapes. What's the story behind that?
Ng: That was Gary Gates from PokerNews. He had the humors to challenge me to a Guitar Hero competition. So we had a little competition, it was a video for PokerNews and he ended up losing. But he had asked me to make a side bet, where if I lost I would wear the PokerNews logo and I decided to just throw something out there and say 'if you lose, you have to fan me and feed me grapes during the Main Event, Day one.'
WSOP.com: So how did you get so good at Guitar Hero?
Ng: Well, every waking minute that I'm not playing poker, I'm playing Guitar Hero or Rock Band.
WSOP.com: Do you think that it helped your game having Gary there fanning you?
Ng: Yeah, I was very relaxed. I was cool (laughs). I was fed. I had nice organic grapes.
WSOP.com: Tell us about your Day 1, how did it go?
Ng: Day one was pretty steady for me. I pretty much accumulated the whole day. I think I slipped once. Aside from that, I didn't bluff really, maybe I took a continuation bet here or there, but besides that, when I bet I had it and I got paid off.
WSOP.com: Any huge hands?
Ng: There was two hands where I flopped sets, and I got some action on those. But as for big pocket pair, I think I had kings once and jacks, but I didn't have any real monsters.
WSOP.com: There were a bunch of celebrities and athletes here on Day 1. If you could choose any celebrity to have at your table during the Main Event, who would it be?
Ng: I would pick Edward Norton because I've always been a huge fan, but he would probably be pretty good, so I don't think it would be good equity to have Edward Norton at my table.
WSOP.com: You went deep in the Ladies Event, what are the major differences between an all-women field and an open event?
Ng: In general, the field is a little bit softer. However, women are much trickier to read. When you're playing against a novice player, if it's a female she can be much more difficult to put on a hand or to predict what she might do in the future.
WSOP.com: Which do you prefer, open events or ladies events?
Ng: I think I still prefer the ladies events because there is a sense of camaraderie, a sisterhood kind of thing. And generally women are nicer to each other.
WSOP.com: What do you think about the four month break before the final table?
Ng: At first I was really against it, I thought it would be a really bad idea. I thought it could open up the possibility of collusion. But, now that I think about it and I've talked to some other pros, I think it will be good. It will build up a lot of hype, people will really get into it and follow their favorite. I think it will be more exciting.
WSOP.com: When you come to the Rio to play an event, what's the most important thing that you bring with you?
Ng: My iPod is the most important thing (laughs).
WSOP.com: If we were to put your headphones on, what would we be listening to?
Ng: I listen to everything. But, probably some seventies soul or R&B, like Stevie Wonder or Marvin Gaye. Not too much current stuff. Hip-hop from like five years ago, maybe older.
WSOP.com: Tell us about your strategy going into Day 2 today.
Ng: My strategy for this entire WSOP has been a lot slower paced. Not really try to get a lot of chips early and take any risks, more steady and try to wait for good cards and wait for the right situation.
WSOP.com: Well good luck on Day 2b, thanks for talking with us.
Ng sits in the top half of the leaderboard with 147,000 chips going into the dinner break on Day 2b.
WSOP.com: Evelyn, during Day 1 of the Main Event there was a guy dressed as a Greek servant, fanning you and feeding you grapes. What's the story behind that?
Ng: That was Gary Gates from PokerNews. He had the humors to challenge me to a Guitar Hero competition. So we had a little competition, it was a video for PokerNews and he ended up losing. But he had asked me to make a side bet, where if I lost I would wear the PokerNews logo and I decided to just throw something out there and say 'if you lose, you have to fan me and feed me grapes during the Main Event, Day one.'
WSOP.com: So how did you get so good at Guitar Hero?
Ng: Well, every waking minute that I'm not playing poker, I'm playing Guitar Hero or Rock Band.
WSOP.com: Do you think that it helped your game having Gary there fanning you?
Ng: Yeah, I was very relaxed. I was cool (laughs). I was fed. I had nice organic grapes.
WSOP.com: Tell us about your Day 1, how did it go?
Ng: Day one was pretty steady for me. I pretty much accumulated the whole day. I think I slipped once. Aside from that, I didn't bluff really, maybe I took a continuation bet here or there, but besides that, when I bet I had it and I got paid off.
WSOP.com: Any huge hands?
Ng: There was two hands where I flopped sets, and I got some action on those. But as for big pocket pair, I think I had kings once and jacks, but I didn't have any real monsters.
WSOP.com: There were a bunch of celebrities and athletes here on Day 1. If you could choose any celebrity to have at your table during the Main Event, who would it be?
Ng: I would pick Edward Norton because I've always been a huge fan, but he would probably be pretty good, so I don't think it would be good equity to have Edward Norton at my table.
WSOP.com: You went deep in the Ladies Event, what are the major differences between an all-women field and an open event?
Ng: In general, the field is a little bit softer. However, women are much trickier to read. When you're playing against a novice player, if it's a female she can be much more difficult to put on a hand or to predict what she might do in the future.
WSOP.com: Which do you prefer, open events or ladies events?
Ng: I think I still prefer the ladies events because there is a sense of camaraderie, a sisterhood kind of thing. And generally women are nicer to each other.
WSOP.com: What do you think about the four month break before the final table?
Ng: At first I was really against it, I thought it would be a really bad idea. I thought it could open up the possibility of collusion. But, now that I think about it and I've talked to some other pros, I think it will be good. It will build up a lot of hype, people will really get into it and follow their favorite. I think it will be more exciting.
WSOP.com: When you come to the Rio to play an event, what's the most important thing that you bring with you?
Ng: My iPod is the most important thing (laughs).
WSOP.com: If we were to put your headphones on, what would we be listening to?
Ng: I listen to everything. But, probably some seventies soul or R&B, like Stevie Wonder or Marvin Gaye. Not too much current stuff. Hip-hop from like five years ago, maybe older.
WSOP.com: Tell us about your strategy going into Day 2 today.
Ng: My strategy for this entire WSOP has been a lot slower paced. Not really try to get a lot of chips early and take any risks, more steady and try to wait for good cards and wait for the right situation.
WSOP.com: Well good luck on Day 2b, thanks for talking with us.
Ng sits in the top half of the leaderboard with 147,000 chips going into the dinner break on Day 2b.
